Mitt Romney Tells Flood Victim To Go Home And Call 211

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney spend Friday with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who was on Romney’s short list for Vice-President before he chose Paul Ryan, touring areas of Louisiana that were severely flooded because they were left outside the flooding protection systems built by the Federal Government after Hurricane Katrina. Last week Louisiana was pounded by Hurricane Isaac which while only a category 1 storm still left large parts of the South underwater.

Romney and Jindal spent more than an hour shaking hands with paramedics and fireman as well as local politicians. They then spent some time with National Guardsman who helped local residents during the storm.

Romney and Jindal spent a decent amount of time with Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac’s flooding.

Chiarello said she told Romney:

“I lost everything”

She said that Romney responded saying:

“He said that he was going to do the best that he could for us. He just told me to, um, there’s assistance out there. He said, go home and call 211.” That’s a public service number offered in many states.

Chiarello told reporters that she was going to seek shelter for the time being because her home is underwater. She expressed a high level of frustration with the State’s preparedness for severe weather saying:

“We live outside the levee protection that’s why we get all this water because they close the floodgates up front and all they’re doing is flooding us out down here. It’s very frustrating, very. We go through Katrina and Rita and now we’re going through Cindy, Lee and now Isaac.”

Romney made it to town right after he accepted the Republican nomination for President and he managed to make it to Louisiana days before President Obama was scheduled to be there.

Chiarello said of Romney and Jindal:

“He’s good. He’ll do the best for us. He has our best interests at heart. I thought he’d be more like a politician, but it was more understanding and caring.”